


Fall of a Warrior

by orange_juice_and_toothpaste



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Character Study, Crimson Flower Route, Gen, Spoilers for Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28143765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orange_juice_and_toothpaste/pseuds/orange_juice_and_toothpaste
Summary: After the fall of Derdriu, Hubert returns to the monastery and finds himself in the former Golden Deer classroom. Reflecting after the battle, Hubert questions exactly what he witnessed, and what it means to him.
Kudos: 4





	Fall of a Warrior

The battle at Derdriu shocked Hubert in a way others hadn’t previously. Of course, due to their ( _his_ reluctant) faith in the professor’s tactical skills, they won regardless. However, Edelgard had allowed the _professor_ to choose Claude’s fate. Hubert couldn’t help but to wonder what she had been thinking in that moment. Yes, she placed a lot of importance in his jurisdiction but to let an enemy ruler live? Hubert would not have hesitated even a moment to dispose of Claude. But none of that now, Hubert thought as he came out of this reverie. He was in front of the Golden Deer classroom, curiously feeling his own stare blank as he peered into the room.

Taking tentative steps and glancing around, Hubert winced at his own behavior. Look at him, acting as if he didn’t have the right to be anywhere in the monastery. But in a way… Hubert found himself in the middle of the old classroom. Dust had settled on all the desks and chairs. There were faint imprints of chalk on the board. A lone quill had found its home on the stone floor, a thin layer of dirt on top, like someone had once stepped on it. All signs leftover of their school days. Never a sentimentalist, Hubert could only wonder at the bitterness in his mouth as he tried to remember where the students had sat once.

Professor Byleth had somehow convinced most of the student body to abandon their houses to join the Black Eagles, and while that still irks Hubert to have to let so many irrelevant people close to Edelgard, Hubert couldn’t deny the advantages in the middle of war. The people the professor attracted had betrayed their own countries to fight with the Black Eagles Strike Force, including the powerhouses Felix and Marianne, individually forces to be reckoned with and terrifying together. Hubert is not so prideful as to deny their roles in many of their wins, and even as far back as their school days Hubert never had to plan for their incapacitation. How terrible it would have been to face such foes as these. Looking around the room, Hubert’s thought suddenly turned to the professor. Did he think about the same things in Derdriu?

In truth, Hubert knew all about the professor’s past as the mercenary Ashen Demon. It was his job to know, after all. But after having fought alongside him for so long, Hubert wondered if there was ever any stock in that title. The professor had ordered Felix, Petra and Marianne to deal with the Almyran backup as the rest of their forces pushed into the port. Hilda had been in the middle of it. Hubert ran a finger over a desk, leaving a clean trail that cut through the dust. The professor had ordered everyone away while he dealt with Hilda on his own. Hubert had, at the time, commended him on the strategy. While Hilda was preoccupied with such a formidable opponent, weaker fighters like Ashe and Bernadetta could safely pick off foes from a distance while Linhardt and Mercedes alternately ran support and magical offense. After the fact, though, Hubert thought he could remember the professor giving no further orders after that, and the ones he did were sloppy. One such example was accidentally leaving Hubert to deal with two Wyvern riders at once, forcing Mercedes to backtrack and rescue him (which he should probably thank her for, somehow). The point of the Ashen Demon was that he held no emotion as he cut down his enemies, but what was a better indicator of emotion than poor strategy, especially in the middle of battle?

When Hilda fell, the professor had fallen behind for some time. Hubert had accidentally been left behind as well and bore witness to the soft light of white magic the professor had used to try and bring back the pink haired warrior. The professor was significantly less proficient with healing magic than someone like Marianne or Mercedes, or even Linhardt. This fact was never more apparent than the constant pulsing of white light as the professor used Heal over and over again.

Hubert felt something click in his head and he finally remembered that Hilda had sat in the front of the classroom and that despite her laziness, she was shrewd enough to realize the importance of learning, at least to keep herself safe in battle. Hubert had more or less heard the secondhand version of this as Marianne had once told them about her time with the Golden Deer class. Before Edelgard had declared war and sent Fodlan into chaos, the professor had been particularly close to the axe wielder. Not for the first time, even within these last few minutes, Hubert wondered about the former professor. After failing to save Hilda, did the professor let Claude go? Even to the end, Hilda was one student the professor could never sway to the Black Eagles. Her loyalty had to be commended, even if it was to someone like Claude who used the pretense of compassion to move his friends like pawns.

A couple moments passed in silence. Passing footsteps and drifting voices were all that existed to remind Hubert there was a world outside the former classroom. He could not bring himself to regret the attack and subsequent fall of Derdriu but he did have…a distaste for the people left behind with it.

The sound of footsteps at the back of the room came to Hubert’s ears and he turned just as the professor was about to call out to him, probably in a blasé hello. That look he had when he cradled Hilda’s body was back, concentrated in his eyes.

Hubert didn’t quite know how to approach the subject he was just thinking about, so instead, he made do with mentioning something something Claude’s tactics something something ‘commendable’. Even as he was speaking, Hubert understood what the professor had really been asking, without any words at all. Hubert couldn’t bring himself to regret the fall of Hilda.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is actually based on my own play through of the Crimson Flower route. What Hubert describes really did happen. I thought if I had a high enough support with Hilda, I could recruit her in battle (like you can with Ashe) but obviously that wasn't the case. Hubert isn't even one of my more liked characters but something really struck me as profound after all was said and done and this is what I imagined he thought about after the battle.


End file.
